Carly Eavesdrops and Learns Valuable Information — and Drew Helps Nina Make More Inroads With Willow

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Sonny arrives at the Metro Court and spots Nina having breakfast with Valentin. He walks off, and Valentin asks if she’s okay. Nina says she’s fine, but she doesn’t think Sonny is.

More: Will Nina and Drew fall in love?

Valentin asks how things are going with Willow, so she fills him in on the progress she’s made thanks to Willow seeing her and Drew working together. She relays that Willow feels perhaps she should drop her anger towards her as well.

Valentin worries about what poison Drew could be putting in Willow’s ear. Nina looks over at Willow and Drew, who are at the bar, and says he won’t do that if he knows what’s good for him. Valentin asks how things are going with Drew and being back at Crimson. She knows she left him high and dry with The Invader but wonders if this was part of his grand plan to get her back at Crimson. Valentin says even he’s not that good, and Adrian has reverted the paper to a tabloid, which has increased circulation. Alexis is still printing the hard stories, and people are reading them, too. He says it’s a win-win, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get what he wants.

Valentin gets back to the topic of Drew, and Nina calls him arrogant, petty, and rude. However, she also says he’s a savvy businessman. She tells him they’ve reached a quid-pro-quo agreement that works out for both of them. He asks if this is only beneficial to Drew. She decides to give it a test and gets up.

Sonny joins Jordan and thanks her for meeting him as he wants to make a significant donation to the city. Jordan can think of three programs that could use the financial support, but Sonny senses she doesn’t want to take his offer.

Jordan asks why he’s coming to her. He thinks she’ll know where to use his money best, and they have children having children together. Jordan asks why now. He explains that this is his home, that his kids are here, and that he wants to help the community.

At the bar, Drew meets with Willow, who is on board with becoming the spokesperson for The New Tomorrow Institute. Drew is thrilled but hopes she isn’t feeling pressured or obligated to do this because of their history. She owes him his life, which prompts him to say is why he feels he shouldn’t have asked her. She laughs that he offered her this job and now is trying to talk her out of it. Drew knows she’s perfect for this job and lists the reasons she’be great at it, but he doesn’t want her to do it out of a sense of obligation.

Willow appreciates what he did for her, and he should be proud of himself. He says he is. She also wants to be a part of this and help save lives like her own was saved. He notes she’ll have to cut back hours at the hospital. Willow reveals she has left nursing, as she was missing out too much on her kids growing up. She has the advantage of being able to step back from her career and wants to take time being a mother.

Nina interrupts and tells Drew she needs to run something by him about the next issue, so to make time for her later this morning. She goes to leave, but Willow stops her and decides to share her news with Nina. Nina says she’s proud of her, at least, she hopes she can be proud of her. Willow smiles and says she can. Drew suggests Crimson could write a story about the institute and Willow. Nina says she’d love to, and Willow agrees, so Nina tells her to schedule a time with the rep at Crimson when she’s ready. Nina tells them to enjoy the rest of their morning. Willow says you too and smiles.

More: Steve Burton to appear on State of Mind

Nina returns to Valentin and says her daughter smiled at her and agreed to an interview. She thinks she’s way ahead in her deal with Drew and can put up with him as long as he gets access to her daughter. She tells Valentin she has him to thank for this, and he states he’s always happy to help a friend.

Back at the bar, Drew hopes he didn’t overstep with Willow, and he should have checked with her before offering her up for an interview. She tells him it’s okay, it’s an interview for a good cause, and now it’s her job. They hug.

Willow leaves, and Drew approaches Sonny and Jordan as they are wrapping up their meeting. Sonny tells Drew he’s decided not to sell his gym to him, but he wishes him good luck on his project. Sonny departs, and Jordan has to get back to the office as well, but Drew has something to run by her.

Drew tells her about his meeting with the congressman, who is offering to try to get them money for the riverfront project. Jordan is impressed, but he says he’s still got a lot of work on pulling together the schematics of it all. Jordan offers to help, given it was her idea initially. He says she knows the city and what it needs to be successful and attractive. Jordan wants to know how he got a meeting with the congressman, who is notorious for not taking meetings. Drew looks over at Nina and says it’s complicated.

More: Vanessa Marcil claps back at fan

Bennet drops by Anna’s new place with a few recruits, including Dex, to help her move. Plus, he’s forcing them to carry the boxes up three flights of stairs as part of their workout. Anna jokingly tells Calvin if she gets in trouble with internal affairs for this then she’s taking him down with her.

Later, Felicia drops by to visit and loves her new place. Talk turns to Charlotte, and Anna admits she’s slowly putting what happened in the rearview mirror. Plus, she’s back in Switzerland and happy. Felicia asks how she knows this. Anna admits she ran into Valentin at The Metro Court. Suddenly, there is a knock at the door, and she receives flowers. They are from Valentin, congratulating her on the new apartment and noting that he’s looking forward to dinner.

Felicia tells Anna that she didn’t mention dinner before when speaking about her run-in with Valentin. Anna thinks back to her conversation about Valentin with Jason, and Valentin’s involvement in Pikeman. She tells Felicia she doesn’t think he’s suddenly trustworthy, but she does miss him. Felicia also knows he loves her. Anna feels that their love for each other has complicated their current relationship, but she can’t share her life with someone she doesn’t trust. Still, Valentin understands her in a way many men don’t.

Felicia knows the tragedy of Charlotte’s shooting will always be between them, and she’s just starting to recover, so is this dinner a good idea? Anna says she and Valentin haven’t had a calm, adult conversation about what happened, and they need closure.

At Pentonville, Laura meets with Heather. Laura asks how she’s feeling. Heather says she is better, and the new hip is still healing but a lot less painful. Laura tells her about the latest cute thing Ace did, which was trying to sing along with her singing him a lullaby. She’s also brought a photo of Ace for her to have. Heather is touched and thinks he looks like Esme. Heather says Laura is so lucky to have spent time with Esme and get to know her. She loved her little girl, and admits that she blamed Spencer and Trina for all the bad things that happened to Esme. She tried to protect her daughter by punishing those who hurt her. Now, though, she has been going over and over it, and she doesn’t know why she thought killing those people would help her little girl. She says it’s a sad thing to only after killing people to realize what you’ve done and how you hurt other people’s families. Laura tells her that it was the illness and her cobalt poisoning that made her cross that line.

Heather continues to cry, saying that she doesn’t understand why she did it, but she can still see what she did and remembers it all. Laura believes that’s because she’s outside the illness now and seeing things clearly. Heather sobs she also sees how other people see her and understands why they hate her. Laura says she did horrible things, but she’s still human, Ace’s grandmother, and she seems to be capable of love. Heather notes she still discarded Steven Lars and Franco, and that was before her accident and the hip replacement. Laura points out she still ensured they were safe, and Heather admits she knew she couldn’t have been a good mother to them. Years later, she became obsessed with them as adults, and she wondered if she could have been a good mother if she had not had that hip replacement. She also wonders if Esme would still be alive if she could have found her and helped her in time.

Laura says there is no way to know what might have been, and Heather knows she’s right. Heather knows she hurt a lot of people and feels the guilt of it now, which must be part of the punishment. Laura says this is painful, but she is also taking responsibility and coming back to reality, and that’s a good thing. Heather says it’s a reality without Esme, Franco, and her other son, who is in prison and likely doesn’t want to see her ever again. Still, she has her Ace. Laura promises Heather she will make sure Ace has the best life possible.

More: Carly comes to Jason’s aid!

Carly stops by the warehouse to see Jason and tells him Sonny’s in trouble. She fills him in on her visit with Sonny, and she’s worried he’s off his meds, but he swears he’s taking them. Jason admits he thought he could be off his meds, too. She thinks Sonny should get his blood drawn and meds recalculated. Jason asks if anyone Sonny trusts can convince him to do so. She says he only trusts Ava, who has a history of switching meds, but she doesn’t see what tampering with his pills would get her in this case.

Carly comments Sonny’s been different since Nixon Falls, and his break-up with Nina has worsened things, so maybe this isn’t his bipolar disorder. Jason asks who else might be able to convince Sonny to get checked out. Carly suggests Stella, but she’ll have to see his behavior firsthand to do that.

Suddenly, Cates shows up, and wasn’t expecting to see Carly here. She explains she’s visiting her best friend and asks why he’s here. He flashes his badge and is here on official business. She thinks he’s here to harass Jason, and she wants to call Diane. Jason tells her not to bother and it will be okay. He says he’ll call her later.

Carly leaves but decides to hide and listen to their conversation. Cates tells Jason that they need to talk about Pikeman. Cates says Sonny was arrested last fall for his involvement with Pikeman, but they had to drop the charges as there was no proof. They also know Jack Brennan was involved. Jason reminds him that he wasn’t here when this was going down. Cates knows but says this indicates a tie between Sonny and Pikeman.

In the park,  Sonny spies Dex jog by with some of the other police recruits during training. They lock eyes as Dex jogs past him.